When I started using this Blog, it was 2005. The last time when I wrote with serious thoughts was in 2008 and 2009. Now, in 2016, eight years later, I am asking myself "What Has Happened to this World?"
Idealism in the form of kindness, generosity, tolerance, celebrating diversity and striving for greater common good seems to have vanished. In their places, we are bombarded every day by news and sentiments which provoke enmity, selfishness, intolerance, suppressing diversity and demanding the best for self, nation, religion, and race. Where are the voices of unity in diversity?
Ironically, the European Union, whose motto is Unity In Diversity, is facing BREXIT and internal strives on the continent.
Perhaps it is time to examine what went wrong and how to fix it, before the world descends into chaos.
Finding faults with political leaders is not productive, because they always have their reasons for their decisions. "It is always someone else's fault which causes my counter measure."
In asking myself what went wrong, my thoughts led me to two things, spontaneously:
1) The problem is inside each one of us.
2) The problem is that information technologies compel us into making decisions much much faster than we had to ten years ago.
As a firm believer of free wills, I would maintain that most people, when given sufficient time and a conducive environment to be calm, will make a choice based on their value system, formed and modified through their life-long experiences. A personal value system provides stability and rationality in the behavior of a person. When agitated and pressed for time to react, a person may more likely respond with choices that are prone to be by reflex, by habit, according to conventional wisdom, prompted by peer pressure, or dictated by fear or other emotions, etc. When feeling threatened, a person could also resort to instincts of self protection and would regard whoever poses the threat to be an enemy. These animal instincts are in all of us and may get loosened when we lose control of our free wills.
The frequency and intensity of information hitting us in the face has become astronomical. It can only be limited if we make a conscious and difficult effort to not fall prey to the temptation of constantly staying in touch, through the smart phones and computers. In comparing our daily lives today with ten years ago, the biggest difference is the ubiquitous reliance on the smart phones for almost all forms of communication. Fixed line phones, faxes, television with antenna and cable subscriptions have disappeared or practically so. Even computers are now being used much less frequently. Instead of getting news from delayed coverage from "trusted" news channels, established media or newscasters, we get instant coverage, instant comments and instant responses from practically the whole world, including personal blogs and twitters, etc.
With the sources of information gone up exponentially, news are being quoted and republished before proper checking. Quick responses from people more often become the results of reflex, habit, emotion, etc., as I pointed out, instead of the consequences of carefully weighed and considered comments consistent with that person's value system. Accusations and counter-accusations become more frequent and they are magnified by news channels picking them up and magnifying them by rebroadcasts.
Not all people fall into that mode of receiving and sending information, without careful consideration, of course. At least, none of us automatically would agree that we are one of them. But perhaps, we have become more like that ourselves, due to the new environment of modern information technology, without our fully realizing it. In other words, we ourselves are part of the world's problem.
Even now, typing this blog is slower than ten years ago. Why? It is because I have become so used to just writing short quips in Chat Apps or text messages, postings or comments in Facebook, etc. My grammar and my English writing have definitely deteriorated.
When will we realize that mankind has not risen to the challenge of truly "mastering" our technologies? Have we become slaves of our own inventions?
Food for thought?
1 comment:
High ideals are goals, which can hardly be reached by mankind. Dr. Sun's 天下为公 ”All under heaven are public" is outstanding, but not seen by contending nations. Information explosion needs be scrutinized and not mis-interpreted. More thorough understanding and critical thinking are needed, instead of impulsive reaction. Also, only 衣食足 知榮辱 "when clothing and food are adequate then people would differentiate between honor and shame".
YK Chan
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